ABOUT
New abstract paintings by Sonya Watts depict the intense sensory experiences of being Autistic- often too-bright, crowded, vibrating, and deeply felt… Watts distills these fierce signals into a visual structure and rhythm that feels looser, more comfortable, more balanced and bearable. Using paint as a vehicle for being present in each moment of creation, a feeling of freedom and personal truth is found in each mark, each shape emerging without force or analysis.
The viewer is invited to consider a landscape of visual synesthesia, where the image codifies a concurrent ecosystem of the sounds, physical sensations, and emotions that accompanied the inspiration and creation process of the work.
Process
I work with paint intuitively, starting with random mark-making, roughed in shapes and intense color. Soon a certain atmosphere starts to take shape in my minds eye, bringing forth a sense memory I can excavate. I begin to build a structure influenced by the forms I see when I hear music, or feel sun on my skin, or experience a rush of emotion. These experiences have a visual fingerprint that dissolves if I look too closely. Through painting, I can give them permanence.
Inspired
My visual language is heavily influenced by the thousands of magazine collages I have made throughout my life. The saturated colors, strong contrast textures and graphic elements of print media has always been my playground. This imagery attempts to grab and hold the attention- echoing the way hypersensitivity feels in the real world.
About
BFA in printmaking, Cornish College of the Arts 2011
Self-taught potter and ceramicist, 2018-2024
